Christopher Nolan Says AI Is a 'Transparent' Trojan Horse

Christopher Nolan says AI is moving faster than almost any technology he has seen — and facing an unusually strong public backlash.

In an interview with Hugo Travers, who publishes on YouTube as HugoDécrypte, the Oscar-winning director compared AI to the Trojan horse at the center of his new version of “The Odyssey,” which is currently dominating the box office. After Travers suggested AI could be something welcomed into daily life before revealing a darker side, Nolan laughed and replied:

“I think AI is a Trojan horse that everybody knows the Greeks are inside.”

He pushed the metaphor further, describing AI as “a transparent horse, it’s made of glass.”

Recommended reading

Chrome’s Gemini tools reach UK desktop users

Nolan said he has been encouraged by the level of skepticism, especially among younger people.

“I’ve never seen a technology advancing so rapidly [that’s been] so completely rejected by the public. Everybody’s suspicion of it is so extreme, particularly young people. The reaction to AI videos online and people my children’s age immediately calling it 'AI slop' and coining that term and just putting it in a box.”

For Nolan, that reaction is healthy. He argued that while technology can offer major benefits, both the tools themselves and the motives of the people selling them should be treated cautiously rather than with “blind faith.”

He did not spell out exactly what he sees as AI’s biggest threat. But the issue has become a major concern in Hollywood, including during the writers' and actors' strikes of 2023. The Directors Guild of America, where Nolan serves as president, also secured some generative AI protections in its latest contract.

Nolan has long been wary of certain technologies, including smartphones, even as he embraces others. His commitment to film has made him seem both old-school and experimental: “The Odyssey” is the first feature film shot entirely on Imax film and Imax cameras.

That tension also came up in a recent interview with The New York Times, where Nolan rejected the label technophobe.

“I think of myself as a techno-skeptic.”

He added that he embraces new technology, but objects when it is marketed at the expense of systems that still work. In filmmaking, he said, that nearly meant losing film altogether.